Cruz Crusade Against Obamacare Continues On Senate Floor

(NBC NEWS) -- Texas Sen. Ted Cruz took to the Senate floor just after 2:41 p.m. on
Tuesday, vowing to speak in opposition to Obamacare "until [he] is no
longer able to stand."

Texas Senator Ted Cruz reads two bedtime stories to his daughters at home and likens Obamacare to "Green Eggs and Ham"

And
speak he did. Cruz read Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham" as he wished
his children goodnight from the Capitol. He professed his love for
White Castle burgers and even commended actor Ashton Kutcher for a
recent award show speech. Between the padding, the freshman senator
dipped into long monologues about his fierce opposition to President
Barack Obama's health care law.

As he took the floor Tuesday
afternoon, Cruz declared, "I rise today in opposition to Obamacare."
But all the posturing amounts to little more than a very, very long
speech. The display is not formally considered a filibuster because it
is not being used to stop legislation – in this case a bill that would
continue to fund the government.

The Senate will still proceed with a vote on Wednesday to take up
legislation passed last week by Republicans in the House which would
prevent a government shutdown but also contains provisions to stop
funding the Affordable Care Act. Cruz is protesting the bill because
Senate rules would allow Democrats to strip the part that would defund
Obamacare.

"I intend to speak in support of defunding ObamaCare
until I am no longer able to stand, to do everything that I can to help
Americans stand together," the hard-charging Texas senator said.

Because
of Majority Leader Harry Reid's move Monday to schedule a test vote on
government funding for Wednesday morning, Cruz can't do anything on his
own procedurally to delay the timing of that vote.

Sen.
Ted Cruz, R-Texas, talks about difficult situations that Americans have
faced during his Tuesday speech on the Senate floor against the
Affordable Care Act.

And as Cruz spoke, Reid aide Adam Jentleson tweeted that the Republican "pre-negotiated the terms of his #fakefilibuster with Senator Reid yesterday. Not exactly a Mr. Smith moment."

When asked how long he planned to speak, Cruz offered a wry response to reporters on Capitol Hill: "We shall see."

If
Cruz managed to keep the least 60 of his fellow senators from
supporting that Wednesday vote, he could prevent cutting off debate on
the budget bill – and that would be a filibuster.

Cruz wants that
procedural vote to fail, because – if the final government funding bill
subsequently passed, Democrats would simply strip out the part of the
legislation that deals with Obamacare, kicking the clean bill back to
the House.

But Cruz has only a few allies in that attempt. Some
of those supporters, Republican Sens. Mike Lee, David Vitter, Pat
Roberts, Jeff Sessions, Marco Rubio, Jim Inhofe, and Mike Enzi have
visited the Senate floor to ask their colleague a question, a tactic
that allowed Cruz a temporary break from speaking.

Kentucky
Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who in March held a 13-hour filibuster, also
took to the Senate floor to ask if Cruz would accept any sort of
compromise that keeps the government open while revising the health care
law.

Republicans "don't control all the government" Paul said while asking Cruz if he intended to shut down the government.

Cruz
said he did not want to shut down the government, but would not be open
to a middle ground and "will not vote for a continuing resolution that
does not defund 'Obamacare.'"

Paul actually privately opposed
Cruz's approach to the stopgap spending measure during a meeting with
other GOP senators on Tuesday. Sources told NBC News that Paul joined
with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to help hasten the return
of the spending measure to the House to give colleagues in the lower
chamber more time to figure out how to proceed.

But most senior
Republicans, including McConnell, will not be coming to Cruz's aid. They
have said they will vote to cut off debate - which would enable
Democrats to strip the provision to defund Obamacare, but - more
importantly - also allow the process of reaching an agreement to fund
the government to move forward.

On that note, Reid said Tuesday
that he would seek to move forward with legislation to fund the
government through mid-November, a more modest time frame than had
initially been sought by lawmakers.

Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks on the Senate floor Tuesday, vowing to deliver a long speech against the Affordable Care Act.

The
political appeal, though, of a long speech – filibuster or no – is
undeniable. Paul earned the adulation of conservatives for the
filibuster he waged against the Obama administration's national security
practices and its use of drones.

Paul's effort back in March to hold up the president's nominee to
lead the CIA was the first time the tactic had been used since 2010.

Cruz,
like Paul, has possible designs on the Republican presidential
nomination in 2016, and his speech against Obamacare – the program so
hated by conservatives – could help endear him to the party's base.